Traditional control systems for backhoes have included floor mounted hydraulic levers with a sufficient resistance to movement and an adequate distance from the swivel seat to avoid inadvertent operation. Some have included rudimentary enablement conditions, e.g., an operator's presence switch that detects a weight on the vehicle seat, to activate the traditional controllers. Still others have included systems with pilot controllers that automatically enable and disable the pilot controllers in accordance with seat orientation, i.e., enablement typically requires a seat orientation in the direction of the controls to be enabled.